clitic
/ˈklɪtɪk/
"clitic" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“clitic” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A morpheme that functions like a word, but never appears as an independent word, instead being always attached to a following or preceding word (or, in some cases, within a surrounding word).
Corpus desk
Index EN-clitic · clitic · English
clitic · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | clitic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈklɪtɪk/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “clitic” in English
Rare enough to double-check
clitic is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈklɪtɪk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A morpheme that functions like a word, but never appears as an independent word, instead being always attached to a following or preceding word (or, in some cases, within a surrounding word).".
clitic has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Ancient Greek κλιτικός (klitikós, “inflexional”). The correct English form is clitic, spelled C-L-I-T-I-C.
Definition
- 1A morpheme that functions like a word, but never appears as an independent word, instead being always attached to a following or preceding word (or, in some cases, within a surrounding word).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how clitic appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
In fact, even within the northern Italian dialects, subject clitics do not constitute a syntactically uniform class, as has been convincingly argued in Poletto's work.
In Macedonian, clitic-doubling is a fully-fledged phenomenon. The Macedonian Dat and Acc pronominal clitics, which originate in agreement phrases and move to preverbal position,¹⁰ where they cluster with other clausal clitics, are on their way to becoming mere case markers, which formally distinguish direct and indirect objects from subjects.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek κλιτικός (klitikós, “inflexional”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.